An operating lever provided in a lever switch for vehicle, for example, is provided with two rotary knobs rotatable around a center axis of the operating lever to be spaced therebetween (for example, refer to Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2011-150948).
FIGS. 8A and 8B are cross sections each explaining a typical configuration of a lever switch having an operating lever provided with two knobs spaced therebetween in a rotational axis X direction, the two knobs comprising a first rotary knob 105 and a second rotary knob 110 that are rotatable around a center axis of the operating lever. FIG. 8A is a cross section illustrating an operating lever 100 having a linear case 120, and FIG. 8B is a cross section illustrating an operating lever 100A having a curved case 120A.
As illustrated in FIG. 8A, in the operating lever 100 provided with the two rotary knobs of this type, rotation of the first rotary knob 105 positioned in a tip end of the operating lever 100 is transmitted to a first operating element 107 through a first rotation transmitting member 106 in a columnar shape and rotation of the second rotary knob 110 adjacent to the first rotary knob 105 is transmitted to a second operating element 114 through a second rotation transmitting member 113 in a cylindrical shape.
In addition, when the first operating element 107 is displaced in association with the rotation of the first rotary knob 105, an unillustrated first switch turns on/off by the first operating element 107, and when the second operating element 114 is displaced in association with the rotation of the second rotary knob 110, an unillustrated second switch turns on/off by the second operating element 114.
Since the rotation of the second rotary knob 110 is performed through the second rotation transmitting member 113 inserted outside of the first rotation transmitting member 106 in the operating lever 100, the first rotation transmitting member 106 and the second rotation transmitting member 113 each are necessarily formed in a linear shape.
Therefore the case 120 of the operating lever 100 that accommodates the first rotation transmitting member 106 and the second rotation transmitting member 113 necessarily has a linear outer appearance.
Recently, for creating a design to the operating lever, there has been proposed a case 120A having an outer appearance curved halfway in the longitudinal direction (refer to FIG. 8B).
However, in a case of the operating lever 100A provided with this case 120A, since the conventional linear rotation transmitting members (the first rotation transmitting member 106 and the second rotation transmitting member 113) cannot be used, a rotation detecting portion 130 (contact point structure) for detecting rotation of each of the first rotary knob 105 and the second rotary knob 110 is installed inside of the operating lever 100A, and a signal indicative of the rotation of each of the first rotary knob 105 and the second rotary knob 110 detected by the rotation detecting portion 130 is taken out by a harness 121 lying in the case 120A.
In this case, however, because of the increased numbers of components configuring the operating lever, there occurs a problem of an increase in manufacturing costs of the operating lever.
Therefore there is a demand for the operating lever provided with the two rotary knobs spaced therebetween, which can adopt a case having a curved outer appearance while suppressing an increase in manufacturing costs of the operating lever.